Halloween Sensory Friendly Party Food and Good Scary Kid-Friendly Fun

Halloween parties can be good scary fun, but often pose a sensory challenge to many children from over-stimulation, noise, uncomfortable costumes, or a change in routine. Add in the typical expected Halloween fare of sugar, sugar, and more sugar, along with all the preservatives food dyes, turn a fun yearly event into a mixture that can easily bring on a sensory meltdown.

Always be alert for choking hazards! Keep the kids supervised where food is being consumed for their safety!

Make your party fun with:

Decorations – let the kids help pick out and decorate for the party; keep the fun in scary!

Party Games – could do “pin the hat on the witch,” “spider piñata,” “monster twister mash,” “duck-duck-monster,” “costume parade around the house/yard/neighborhood,” “face painting,” “photo booth for the little monsters,” “bug bingo,” “scavenger hunt,” and so on.  Click here for IDEAS for Halloween themed scavenger hunt.

Watch a kid-appropriate scary movie with a happy ending

Dimmer lighting (use electric and LED lighting on light strings and to light up pumpkins)

Big soft floor pillows or bean bag chairs to hang on

A separate quiet space for need to “escape” for a bit – could be a pop up tent in another room keeping with the Halloween theme and low level lightning

Reduce noise levels as best you can (it is hard with lots of kids having a screaming good time!)

Snap a photo of each child for later memories of the party

Halloween Party Food Presentation Ideas

The following photo’s give some new ways to approach what to serve at your Halloween party that avoid and reduce the copious amounts of sugar generally consumed at such a get-together.

This blog is not giving you full recipes for all these ideas, but does provide the ideas to get you going. Find the food ideas that you like best and go for it! Any and all would be a great addition to any Halloween party, and sure to bring ooh’s and ah’s from everyone in attendance.

Halloween party decorations and food do not have to be extravagant and expensive – kids love the idea and simple themes and good food with some dim lighting are often all it takes for a good time!

Some of the food ideas are great for snacking party food, but there are also some “meal type” ideas that you may want for a party that goes into meal time.

Banana Ghosts – cut bananas in halves and decorate with dots of chocolate or cocoa frosting

Tangerine Pumpkins with little “stalk” of celery

Mini Pizza Spider Bagels – Can use premade pizza bagels and make webs with shredded mozzarella cheese, or use mini bagels cut in half – use sauce, mozzarella cheese shreds, cut black olive with ½ the spider and cutting up the other half to make “legs” – Add the spiders after you have baked the bagels.

Witches Brooms – use a pretzel stick, mozzarella cheese cut into strips for the broom and wrapped and tied around the pretzel with a thin strip from a stalk of celery or scallion, a strip of a licorice whip, or other edible food.

Monster Mouths with Banana Ghosts – Slice an apple, take 2 slices, spread peanut butter on one side of each slice, put together with small hunks of marshmallows or mini marshmallows for teeth; on top of “mouth” put a ½ large marshmallow with a small dollop of chocolate frosting, a cut piece of black licorice, or chocolate chip for an eye. Banana Ghosts – cut bananas in halves and decorate with dots of chocolate or cocoa frosting. Use sugar free all natural peanut butter, sesame butter, or other natural nut butter.

A different version of Monster Mouths – use a red apple and whole mini marshmallows, all natural sugar free nut butters; for the “eye sticks” use pretzel sticks stuck into small slices of marshmallows; can use a piece of licorice stuck through for eyes.

Carrot Pumpkin – use cut up or baby carrots to make a pumpkin shape; place cut up cucumbers or green squash for nose and mouth, small cups of veggie dip, and celery stalks for the top. Cute and fun! Healthy snacking food for the party too.

Combo Monster Mash – on a platter use some Monster Mouths (this one adds a slice of strawberry for a tongue), Banana Ghosts (with bottoms with angle cuts for effect), Celery Critters (celery stalks filled with sugar free all natural peanut butter and small slices of marshmallow with black licorice eyes), a Monster Skewer with blackberries and cantaloupe, or use any fruit slice with cheese, a few bite sized other goodies for color.

Frankenstein Sandwich – Use thin sliced whole grain bread or matzo meal wafers; spread some guacamole / avocado spread on it, or butter dyed with natural food based dye, add sliced olives / cut olives, 2 slices from a hard-boiled egg for eyes, a small slice of a tomato or red pepper. Have pre-made for let the kids made their own with the ingredients set out for them to use!  

Mummy Bites – For the kids that may like the hot and spicy foods! Use cooked jalapeno’s sliced and filled with cream cheese or smashed up banana, wrap strips of fresh dinner rolls around the mummies and put small slices of marshmallows with licorice for eyes. You can heat up and serve warm for best mingling of flavors. If you don’t want to use a jalapeno, try using green squash cut into sections and cooked where it is still a bit firm.

Spider Wheels – An easy fix! Take some round crackers, put cream cheese, whipped cheese, peanut butter, or even some tuna / chicken salad between them to make a spider body. Stick short pieces of pretzel sticks around to make legs, use a dollop of whatever is inside the body on top to stick small jelly beans, small tomatoes, marshmallows, cooked peas, or even cheerios on top for eyes.

Egg Ghoulies – Make some hard-boiled eggs. Using a small sharp kitchen tool, cut small eye holes and a slightly larger mouth into the white part just to the inner yellow egg yolk. Pretty cool looking and easy to do!

Pepper Pumpkin Pots – Take red, yellow, and orange peppers, clean and carve out insides. Cut eyes/ nose/ mouths into the pepper pots to turn into pumpkins. Fill each pepper pumpkin with veggies for a healthy snack at the party (use peppers, carrots, broccoli, celery, green beans, and so on)

Mummy Rolls – Take mini hotdogs or cut hot dogs into 2-3” long pieces that are cut in half. Wrap in croissant or dinner roll strips and bake until strips are browned. When wrapping leave a small section open so you can place some “eyes” there. Eyes can be a piece of marshmallow or cooked egg with dot of olive or even a chocolate chip.

Creepy Crawler Sandwiches – Toast some healthy bread, add deli meats of your choice, wide strips of cheese for teeth, slices of cucumber and sliced blueberries for eyes; add a little green a chunk or 2 of tomato for color. Quick and easy! Can use for a fun lunch even when it’s not Halloween!!

Ghost Ooze Bites – A bit more “sugar” going on here, but you can use sugar free or all natural substitutes. Make brownies or gluten free / sugar free / natural organic chocolate cake – cut into square when done. Drizzle sugar free frostings or all natural creamy drizzle over cakes. Use a short pretzel stick to secure a big marshmallow on top and make eyes/ mouth with carob chips or a dab of frosting. These are really cute and a sure favorite!

Troll Wraps – Use spinach wraps filled with your choice of meats or nut butter, or veggies, or tuna/ chicken salad. Cut wraps into ½’s so not such a big thing for the kids to contend with. Cut some cheese into zig zaggy shapes for hair, a triangle or rectangle for a nose, a strip of a date, a line of raisons, or a black licorice strip for a mouth, round cut white cheese with ½ blueberries for eyes. Add some other monster sides for a great party idea!

Party Snack Tray – Provide a variety of cute monster and ghost snack treats! Kiwi or other melons on a stick, monster mouths, banana ghosts, strawberries monsterfied, tangerine pumpkins, green grapes cut in half with a spot of cheese and olive eyes, veggie dip with a raisin spider, and so on! Get as creative as you want.

Skettie Worm Monster – Serve angle hair or regular spaghetti (whole wheat or gluten free), add sauce and place 2 rings of mozzarella with ½ olive and streaks of red sauce for eyes, 2 “toothy” pieces of cheese or onion for teeth. Ooooooo so good! This is for a meal at the party – too messy to allow for a “walk around” snack!

The Blob Pancake – Make a pancake (or a bunch of them), make one big and a bunch of little blobs of pancakes to use as ears and feet; add cut pieces of banana with blueberries, a few pieces of cheese cut into triangles with a thin strip of pepper or edge of an apple slice for a mouth. Can use for a brunch menu or for a sleep over breakfast on Halloween.

Red Deviled Egg Bats – Make deviled eggs – add triangle pieces of tomato or red pepper for ears, cut up pieces of olives for eye brows and eyes, can sprinkle a little paprika on them. You can add some “wings” if you’d like using fan shaped pieces of red peppers.

Halloween Trail Mix – mix up a batch of trail mix for your little goblins to enjoy. Use popcorn, nuts, pumpkin seeds, pretzels, other dry healthy add in, and with a few candy corn or small candies tossed in.

Owl Witch Brunch – use a ½ a bagel or english muffin, add on sliced banana, sliced blueberry, raisins or sliced dates or prunes, couple of apple slices, some Witch Brooms, a ½ of a tangerine, and you have a great brunch idea! Let the kids decorate their own plate!

Make Your Own Monster Pizzas – use pre made small pizza dough rounds or use the very thin sliced bagels rounds – add sauce, cheese, sliced peppers, pepperoni, olive slices, bits of pineapple, strips of onion, you name it! It’s your creation!! See how many different monster pizza creations you can all come up with! This is a no rules – it all goes kind of pizza!

Super quick and easy! Tangerine Pumpkin Cups – Buy (or make) small snack sized cups of tangerine slices. Use a magic marker to draw a pumpkin face on the cup lid. That’s it! Stick in a lunch box, or set out for the kids to enjoy at the party.

Crispy Monster Heads – Make some rice krispie treats – use food based organic green food coloring, dip one edge in melted carob or chocolate, add some googly eyes and serve. This one has more sugar but if you want to add something sweet that is not overloaded then you may want to consider this treat.

CLICK ME for Halloween Sensory Edible Flubber Slime – EEEEKKKKK! But all in good fun!

If you really want to toss some sugar into the Halloween eating frenzy – check out these cookies! You can make or buy at your bakery counter.

Time to make some notes and get your Halloween party planning underway!

Think Theme (ghosts, monsters, costume, haunted house, silly monsters, spider webs, and so on)

Start to gather party decorations. Look for and think about sensory friendly costumes.

Let your child help plan the event from beginning to end!

Use the suggestions given as a “springboard” to coming up with more ideas you can try.

Giving your child variety, exposure, change, and experience are ALL growth and learning opportunities.

Stay Calm, Have Fun, and Keep Supporting Your Child!

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